It was awkward in Ezra’s truck, he was playing pop music on the radio, I could tell Ryker was getting slightly annoyed with it. He’d thrown his earplugs in and wasn’t even listening when Ezra did say
something.
Lincoln was six hours away, we were essentially backtracking.
“Porter,” Ezra said getting my attention.
I turned my head.
“Can you drive?” he asked.
“Yeah, why?” I ask.
“Might ask you to drive once we get out of the base, they’ll recognize me and most likely Ryker.
Silent souls are harder to track down, they don’t know you’re one of them, yet. I’ll put the top on the back of the truck and the five of us can stay in the back while you drive,” he replies.
“My face is all over the news, I don’t think it will really matter,” I reply.
He looks a little annoyed that I don’t just accept whatever role he’s given me.
We drove for hours, I leaned against the window, my eyes becoming heavy with sleep. When I woke up in the dark, the truck was stopped on some empty highway, the headlights were on shining
brightly into a grassy, snow-covered field.
I looked around, Ryker was leaning against the other window asleep as well. Ezra was nowhere in
sight. I opened the door with care, shuttering at the coldness of the night. I jumped down into the
snow, it crunched under my feet. I went around to the front of the truck and found footprints.
Assuming they were Ezra’s I wanted to follow them but I was unsure about leaving Ryker alone. Ezra had left us alone and there didn’t seem to be anyone or thing for miles. I shut the truck door lightly so I didn’t wake Ryker.
I followed the footprints through the snow and long grass to a group of trees, I heard loud bangs
coming from the trees, like gunfire. Ezra was standing in his hiking boots, faded dark green pants,
and a tank top with his dog tags hanging off his neck shooting at a tree. How could he stand to be
out in the cold like that?
I rubbed my arms and stepped closer, causing the snow to crunch under my feet.
He turned to look at me.
“You want to try?” he asked holding the handgun out to me.
His brown hair was plastered to the top of his head, and the sides were shaved. He looked like he’d
run a few laps before starting his shooting session. I took the gun nervously keeping my finger away from the trigger, the last thing I needed to do was shoot myself in the foot.
“Isn’t this a waste of ammo?” I asked glancing at him.
“They’re just blanks, save the real stuff for the base,” he comments.
He steps back.
“Aim, fire, follow-through,” he stated.
I lifted the handgun nervously, my hand was a bit shaky. I aimed at a separate tree so I could tell if I
hit it instead of confusing it with one of his hit markers. I took a deep breath and fired at the tree, it hit the side of it, leaving a groove in the wood, and settled somewhere in the snow out of sight.
“Try again,” he urged.
I did, nervously raising the gun again, I aimed at the center of the trunk of the tree, I closed my eyes
and tried to steady my hands and breathing, I opened them again and fired. I hit dead center of the
tree trunk.
“Good job,” he replied taking the gun off me.
He took the magazine out, it was empty.
“Have you ever shot someone?” I ask.
“More than I like to think about,” he replies.
“So, it bothers you?” I continue.
“I feel bad that those people didn’t make the decision that kept them alive with their families rather
than dead by my hand. But those people wanted to kill me as much as I needed to kill them to live so, I didn’t really have a choice if I wanted to live and see my brother again,” he replies.
“Why are you risking his safety though? By going back?” I question.
“I like you, Porter. Don’t push it,” he comments.
“Where are we?” I ask.
“Outside Lincoln, figured I’d wait till night. Fewer patrols and people around the base at night. Plus,
you guys need all the rest you can get,” he replies.
“How are we getting in?” I ask.
“They have card security doors, you swipe your ID, and the doors open,” he replies.
He holds up a military issued ID, not his. Someone by the name of Sgt. Kepler. The man looked about forty.
“You stole an ID?” I asked.
“Well, mine wasn’t going to work to get them out if they’re in cells,” he states. “Come on, let’s get
back to Ryker.”
I wasn’t sure how to feel about Ezra, or what his intentions were. We had no idea what we were
walking into at the base.
I followed him back through the snow to the truck. We both got in and he started it up again jolting
Ryker out of his sleep. I rubbed his shoulder lightly trying to calm him.
“Where are we?” he asks looking outside.
“Outside Lincoln,” I answer quietly.
I take his hand and hold it tightly, worried about what will happen once we’re inside the base.
“Are you okay?” he asks quietly.
I look at him, “Scared,” I whisper.
We arrive at the base at about midnight. The inside of it is well lit by street lights. Ezra drives up to
the gate, leans out the window, and swipes Kepler’s ID. The machine recognizes the ID and opens
the gate. He drives through past the resident quarters to the main buildings. He parks the truck.
“If they’re going to be anywhere, it’s in there,” he says looking up at the three-story building.
Windows glow yellow in the dark.
“Come on,” he says. He gets out of the truck throwing on a jacket and carrying three handguns.
He loads them as we climb out of the back. He hands one to me and holds one out to Ryker.
“You remember how to shoot?” he asks.
“From the three times dad brought me on your hunting trips? Sure,” he replies but still sounds
unsure. “Aim, fire, follow-through.”
“That’s right,” he replies ruffling Ryker’s hair.
“I’m going first, stay behind me,” he continues. “Let’s go.”
We approached a side door and Ezra swipes his ID again and the door opens, he pushed the door
open looking around with his handgun poised and ready to shoot, ours are pointed at the ground.
He led us to a staircase and up three sets of stairs. He peeked through the window on the door on
the third floor before opening it. We hadn’t seen anyone but we had heard people. He led us down
the hall, we heard one set of footsteps coming down the hall running perpendicular to ours.
Ezra put a finger to his lips to tell us to keep quiet. The footsteps got closer and closer. Finally, a young soldier not much older than us rounded the corner and Ezra grabbed him.
“Are they still holding Maya Flores and the Hollows here?” he asked pointing the gun at his head.
“Rathaway, they said you went AWOL, what are you doing back here?” the man questions.
“I’m the one asking questions,” he growls pressing the gun to the side of his head. “Are they here?”
“They moved them to the Aurora base in Colorado,” the man answered.
“Where’s Remi?” he asked.
“In the quarters they were assigned,” the man answers.
Ezra raises the hand with the gun and knocks him in the back of the head causing him to fall
unconscious.
“Who’s Remi?” Ryker asks stepping forward to get a better look at the guy now that he’s not a
threat.
“It’s not important right now, let’s get out of here,” he replies ushering us back to the stairs.
We descend the stairs back out into the cold.
“You trust him that they’re not here?” I ask quietly.
“Liam was my partner, I trust him,” referring to the man he just knocked out.
“Come on, we have one more stop before we leave for Colorado,” he says checking the
surroundings before nodding to the truck.
Once back inside, he starts the truck up and starts driving back towards the gate but turns down
one of the residential quarters' streets. He stops in front of a house, he looks over at it.
“Leave the guns, come on,” he says climbing back out.
We approach the dark house quietly and Ezra ignores the doorbell and knocks. You can hear
someone get up and bump into a few things on their way to the door. The door finally opens and
there’s a person in a long sleeve shirt that is clearly too big for them that comes down to their thighs with the same short military hair cut as Ezra.
“Ezra? What are you doing here? Are you insane? If they see you, they’ll arrest you,” they state in a
panic looking around, their eyes pause on Ryker, clearly recognizing him.
“You brought him back here? Have you lost your mind?” they continue.
“We thought their friend and his parents might be here, I want you to come with me. It’s not safe
here for you. They’re going to figure it out, Remi,” Ezra explains and begs.
“Get in here before someone sees you,” they gesture annoyed.
They look around again outside before closing the door again.
“Don’t follow him into battle, he’ll get you killed,” they state as they pass us onto their way to the
living room.
“Hasn’t happened yet,” Ryker replies.
They look at him, inspecting him.
“They made it sound like he was a threat,” they comment.
“We don’t have a lot of time Remi, please come with me,” he exclaims.
They approach him, Ezra is tall and they stand between Ryker and I’s height.
“We don’t even know what they want from us,” he replies.
“It can’t be anything good if they were going to take children out of school. It never should have
happened in the first place, none of you should have been experimented on, you were kids, babies,” he exclaims. “Just come with me, not for me. For your own safety.”
“You know I was going to forgive you, I think I’ll hold back for a while though,” they continue.
“I don’t care, but if you’re coming, we need to go now,” he replies.
“Fine, give me a minute,” they comment punching him in the shoulder and wandering off into the
darkness of the house.
“Who was that?” Ryker asks.
“Remi, he’s one of the subjects from the experiment,” Ezra answers.
There seem to be more to it than that.
Remi came back fully dressed looking a lot more boyish in military fatigues. He pulled a coat over his clothes and sat down on the couch to lace up his military boots. He stands up looking up at Ezra.
“I’m ready,” he says.
Ezra seemed to be knocked out of some daze.
“Okay, let’s get out of here,” he nods towards the front door, giving a slight smile.
He leads us back out to the truck, and we get in. Remi rides shotgun with us in the back and Ezra
driving.
“When we get to the next town, you should stop, you need sleep,” he says as Ezra leans out the
window to swipe his ID again.
“I’ll be fine, we have to get to Colorado, it’s hours away,” Ezra replies.
“It’ll be worse if you crash from over-exhaustion,” he continues.
“Fine, in few hours we’ll switch, okay?” he grumbles.
“You better not crash my truck with your terrible driving skills either,” he continues.
“My driving skills are fine, you just think they’re terrible,” he replies.
They sound like a couple.
Ezra and Remi continue to bicker and tease each other. Ryker falls asleep on my shoulder. Ezra
drives until 3:00 am before Remi takes over and he falls asleep in the passenger seat and Ryker
wakes up.